How We Are Managed

About Us

The Waterworks Museum – Hereford is a not for profit museum structured as a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. It also has full accreditation status under the Arts Council England scheme which sets nationally agreed standards for museums in the UK.

How We Are funded

The Museum receives no public funding. Instead it operates with the support its benefactors and revenues from admission fees, grants, awards and membership subscriptions. Funding falls under two main categories: revenue support for day-to-day expenditure and capital funding for projects.

The Museum is wholly operated by volunteers which means it is only possible to open to the public on around 70 days a year. Accordingly, the admission charges and other revenues generated do not cover on-going day-to-day expenditure. Such funding is much more difficult to attract from funding organisations, so the Museum is especially grateful to its benefactors (Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and The Southall Trust) who help to sustain the costs of running this active, working and dynamic museum. The annual fees paid by Members of the Museum and the donations we receive are also very important, especially where they are given under Gift Aid, which adds considerably, and most valuably, to the funds available to operate the Museum.

The Museum always has projects under way from the rescue and restoration of engines, pumps or other relevant machinery, to major and minor building projects. Making the collection widely accessible to visitors is very important and new display projects are continuously planned and carried out. Such projects require capital funding and the Museum approaches various funding bodies with appropriate proposals.

How We Are Managed

The Museum is governed, managed and operated by Volunteers and has no paid staff. The governing body is the Council of Management, the members of which are charity trustees. The day-to-day management of the Museum is delegated to Trustees elected annually to serve as Directors, who collectively oversee the activities of the Museum’s Volunteers.

The Council of Management comprises 18 trustees, five of who have been appointed as Directors. The Council meets at least four times a year and is accountable to the Members of the Museum, of which there are currently over 200. The Directors attend the Museum most Tuesdays and meet regularly.

Governance Structure

The Museum’s Community of Volunteers

Many of the Museum’s members are also Volunteers - active or retired engineers, scientists, technicians and others, who routinely convene at the Museum throughout the year. Some give their time to the restoration, installation and maintenance of the Museum’s site, building and its collections. Others support administration and marketing activities, or in the provision of education, stewarding, catering and other valuable services needed to operate the Museum. The Museum’s Trustees and Directors are volunteers.

On a typical Tuesday, there may be up to 30 Volunteers on the Museum site. This contribution meant that in 2015 the Museum was able to welcome over 5,400 visitors to Hereford.

Museum Policies

The Museum prides itself on being a valued learning resource for schools, being attractive and accessible to all groups in society, and as a family friendly Museum in every sense.

The Health and Safety Policy sets out the framework by which the Museum will protect the general safety and wellbeing of visitors, members, volunteers and the public, and the Safeguarding Policy defines how the Museum operates to safeguard children and vulnerable people.

The Equality and Diversity Policy explains how the Museum is committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination, victimisation and harassment, and to promoting equality of opportunity.

The Environmental Sustainability Policy covers the natural, built, economic and social environment of the Museum and the Data Protection Policy states the Trustee’s commitment to protecting the privacy and the standards individuals can expect the Museum to maintain with regard to any personal information it holds.

Further information about the policies of the Museum can be provided on request.

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CONTACT

This website is owned and published by The Waterworks Museum - Hereford, a charitable trust, a company limited by guarantee and a registered museum whose registered company address is Waterworks Museum - Hereford Ltd, The Hereford Waterworks, Broomy Hill, Hereford, HR4 0LJ.